


Following the Force

by JediDryad



Series: February Fluff: 28 Ways Luke and Mara Get it Together at last. [21]
Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Hand of Thrawn Duology - Timothy Zahn
Genre: And ships it, Confession and forgiveness, F/M, Sealed With A kiss, The Force Wills It, Visions, aunt beru would be proud, february fluff, let's just skip Nirauan, normal conversation, normal flirting, romantic confessions, romcom atmosphere, startling romantic confessions, this one is mostly heartfelt conversation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29513523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JediDryad/pseuds/JediDryad
Summary: Now that she's sold her business and 'come home' to Karrde's operation, Mara feels like she's drifting. So, on a whim, she follows a minor Force directive.She quickly finds out that she's not the only one the Force is pushing around, and a simple evening conversation turns into a reckoning with unresolved tensions and long denied feelings.In short, our pair have that conversation we all know they need to have and, in an uncharacteristic move, they do it without being shot at in the process.
Relationships: Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker
Series: February Fluff: 28 Ways Luke and Mara Get it Together at last. [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129439
Comments: 18
Kudos: 35





	Following the Force

The Force was a crummy scheduling tool, Mara thought to herself resentfully as she walked out on to the Coruscant cafe terrace well after any place with enough self respect to be named a cafe should be shuttered for the night.

The place was remarkably busy for all that, and she realized it kept late hours as a place for theatre and symphony goers to gather and discuss their experiences. There was a time she had been one of them, except she’d never come to a place like this. She’d attended alone and gone home to the palace to share her musings at the foot of her beloved master.

She shuddered at the memory and the strange nauseating nostalgia that would sometimes come with remembering her early life.

That was not why she was there now anyway. She was there because the Force had slammed into her like a troop transport and screamed that she needed to come. She needed to come or… well, what, she wasn’t sure. The compulsion hadn’t been her danger sense, that much she knew. It was unlikely the outcome of any sort of galactic crisis rested on her showing up, but she didn’t have to be a jedi to recognize when that obtuse energy field was demanding something of one of its servants.

She contemplated ignoring the demand. She’d done it before, but there was something about this hint that made her want to follow through. It was different, or maybe she was.

She’d been drifting a bit lately, she knew. She’d sold her trading business back to Karrde and had “come home” as he’d put it. The return to her old routine and colleagues had been comfortable, but, just as she had come to realize about her work as a trader, it did not feel like a permanent move. The first step in finding your direction was looking, she supposed.

So when the Force showed her a vision of herself sitting at a table near the railing of this cafe, she decided to do its bidding. She was in the area anyway. The stakes seemed rather low compared to other demands the Force had made over the years.

She surveyed the terrace and quickly located the small table from her vision. There was a single solitary human at it.

Drat!

What did the Force want from her now?

She stretched out to the being and blinked.

Her Force- ordered table was currently occupied by Luke Skywalker.

Kriff! She’d been avoiding him ever since she’d discovered he was on planet.

Admitting you were drifting to Luke Skywalker would be simply asking for a jedi recruitment pitch.

Still, Mara Jade had faced down worse. She would greet the jedi and see if he had any insight into her situation.

“Mara,” he seemed surprised but definitely happy to see her, happy enough that she expected she was likely intruding on a date. Why the kriff would the Force decide she needed to come and interrupt Luke Skywalker’s love life?

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” The embarrassment grew. 

“I’m not entirely certain why I’m here.”

Luke raised an eyebrow and she realized that any attempt to side step the truth sounded crazier than the actual truth would - especially to a jedi master.

She sighed.

“I had a vision that said I should come here tonight.”

Both of his eyebrows were up now.

Mara turned to the railing and shrugged.

“So, here I am, Force. What was your plan having me interrupt Skywalker’s date?”

“I’m not on a date, Mara.”

Luke’s voice was clear and calm.

“Come and sit down if you like. No one is in the fresher waiting for me to order for them.”

At that point a server came over with something steaming in a mug and placed it in front of Luke.

“Would you like anything?,” he asked her, a coaxing edge in his voice, like she were a pitten hiding under the bed.

“Whatever you’re having,” she capitulated and sank into the chair across from him.

“You look nice tonight.”

She looked at him for a moment and then dropped her head in her hands. She had taken no extra care over her appearance before coming out. She did not owe the Force her finest dress.

“This is ridiculous.” she muttered.

“Which part? The part where we have a chance to catch up on a lovely evening over a cup of hot chocolate or -”

“Oh of course it’s hot chocolate,” she moaned, cutting him off, and then, as though summoned out of the ether, her cup was set in front of her. Luke thanked the server as Mara seemed incapable of removing her head from her hands, and a moment later he reached over and tapped her arm.

“Have a sip. It’ll help with whatever this sudden fluster you have going on is.”

She grumbled. Sugary cacao with nerf cream was unlikely to relax her, but she picked up her mug and took a sip. The usually overwhelming sweetness was cut by something strong that burned all the way down.

“Snillik?”

“Some nights it’s a nice complement to the sugar.”

She nodded and took another sip, trying to convince herself she felt steadier, less like a fool.

“Any better?” he asked. She closed her eyes and nodded.

“I assume you’re feeling manipulated.”

“In one, Skywalker.”

He could be remarkably insightful, she had to admit. She might even believe he actually understood just how much it bothered her to feel toyed with.

His smile had a rueful edge.

“You came here anticipating some sort of danger or clear directive for your life, and instead you find yourself expected to have a drink with someone you’ve been very pointedly avoiding.”

“What makes you think I’ve been avoiding you?”

“I left you two messages and forwarded an invitation from Leia.”

He took a sip of his drink.

“You responded to Leia.”

Insightful and observant.

“I can explain.”

“You don’t owe me an explanation, Mara. You’re not beholden to me, or to the Force for that matter. You’ve made that clear for years.”

An unmistakable sadness crossed his face, but he smiled anyway.

“About two months ago I started having visions of myself here. They were remarkably imprecise, but felt worth exploring and I was feeling restless on Yavin, so I flew in for a visit. It’s been great to spend time with Leia and Han, and the kids and Chewie. It’s also been a nice break from the academy, even if I’ve inevitably been swept up in the diplomatic circuit.

Every night I’ve come here. I arrived just prior to the moon matching the position in my vision. I’ve had a drink and stayed until the moon moved higher in the sky. Tonight felt different, and I knew I’d finally find out what the vision was about.

Then you came.”

So she wasn’t the only one the Force was toying with. 

He shrugged.

“You don’t have to stay, but it seems only fair to say that I’m really happy to see you. I like seeing you.”

“Yeah. You said that,” she muttered. Had he always been happy to see her? She’d imposed so many personalities on him over the years, she didn’t know.

“I suppose the expectation is that I tell you I’m happy to see you too.”

“I never expect insincerity from you.” He smirked, “Besides, you just told me that seeing me was ridiculous, and you may have hyperventilated at the prospect of having a drink with me. I don’t think you can just turn that around.”

She nodded ruefully.

“Even Leia might not be able to turn that around,” she acknowledged.

Luke’s smirk had a softer edge this time.

“You’re right,” she admitted, “I’ve been avoiding you.”

He was silent as she traced the pattern on her mug. She owed him an explanation, she knew. She appreciated that he didn’t say anything. He understood this was hard for her.

“There is nothing simple, or straightforward about our relationship, for me. We went from predator and obnoxiously resilient prey to teacher and student. And when I realized I didn’t want to be your student, I couldn’t figure out another place for myself in your life.

She looked up at him.

“So I left it.”

He nodded with a careful neutrality.

She sighed, 

“Even this past month, I’ve been expecting you to try to usher me back to the academy if I admit I’m the least bit ambivalent about the path I’ve chosen for myself.”

“I don’t want to be your teacher.” 

The bluntness in his words shocked her and felt more like a rejection than she’d ever thought they would.

“Oh.”

“Beyond a basic skills exchange..” He paused smiling as if in fond memory and took another sip of his drink before continuing.

“I don’t think my instructional style matches your needs. I think it would be bad for both of us if we tried that again.”

He grimaced.

“It was certainly bad the first time.”

Mara nodded. She hadn’t realized he’d thought about that at all: that horrible week where they’d butted heads and she’d felt like he must be the most disappointed in her anyone had ever been.

“If you wanted to come back to the academy - and this is not a recruitment seminar - there are plenty of other jedi now who could teach you. Maybe Kam or Corran’s approach would work better for you.”

And with his words, Mara felt all the anxiety and adrenaline that rose in her whenever she thought of the academy drain away in a whoosh. It was as though someone had let all the air out of her. 

Instead of relief though, she felt oddly flat. Some part of her, she realized, would much rather have the dread and agitation than this sudden emptiness. It felt as though, when she wasn’t looking, Luke had surgically removed himself from her life. It was tidy and antiseptic, and it hurt.

That made no sense.

“Okay,” she took a long draught, “I’ll take that under advisement.”

Luke’s laugh was a gentle snort.

“Still feeling embarrassed?”

“A little.”

It was embarrassing, after all, to have worried unnecessarily over something for so long, to have given it so much importance and avoidance only to find it easily sorted. Once again, her imagined adversary was not adversarial in the least.

It hadn’t mattered to him as much as she’d thought it had. Nothing had, she supposed.

She felt like a fool for wishing otherwise. 

“Okay, then I’m going to embarrass myself.”

She glanced up at him.

“If you don’t mind.”

The gesture of assent came so easily to her that she didn’t realize just how High Imperial it was until Luke’s face split into a wide grin.

“You’re such a snob,” he murmured on a soft chuckle. 

Mara couldn’t think of a rejoinder, and there was something in his tone of voice that made it clear he didn’t mind in the least. She didn’t know what to do with that either, but she felt her heart speed up.

He sobered.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think, sitting here night after night for a month. I wondered why I was here. I wondered what I was looking for that I seemed to think coming here would deliver.  
Sometimes how we react to visions is more useful than the vision itself.”

Mara snorted, 

“Shall I have that engraved on the door of your meditation chamber?”

He smiled at her again.

“Ingrained snobbery, but no sacred banthas.”

His voice was tender.

He closed his eyes and the look that crossed his face was more painful than the wistful expressions he’d favoured her with before.

“Force, I wish you hadn’t left.”

He opened his eyes.

“That’s what I kept thinking as I sat here with my drink, staring up at the moon. If I had control over what the vision was calling me to, I would want it to give me another chance to spend time with you.

And then you were here.”

Mara felt her heart pick up pace again. Luke’s eyes seemed to glow as he looked at her. A light breeze ruffled his hair. For what she realized was probably the millionth time over the years they’d known each other, she wanted to reach over and brush the hair off his forehead.

Then she wanted to…

She shook her head slightly to clear it and try to focus on his words.

“I’ve spent a lot of time alone these last few years.” He was speaking half to himself again. 

“I know I could handle being alone if that’s what life has planned for me. I have Leia and Han and the kids. I have friends. I’ll be alright.”

“But I miss you. I miss the friendship I thought we had. I wish I hadn’t wrecked it somehow. I wish you would give me another chance.”

He drained his mug.

“I love you.”

Mara blinked.

“Pardon?”

Luke shrugged and she watched the colour rise in his face.

“I said I was going to embarrass myself.”

She nodded, feeling a little bit like she was floating somewhere above her body.

“So, I love you.”

Mara’s heart was in her throat blocking anything she might say. She just sat there, certain the look on her face was shock and confusion. Certain there were other expressions that would come if he would just give her a minute.

He looked sheepish.

“I know it’s a terrible idea to dump that on you. You’ve been ignoring my calls. I do know what that means, but, if this is my last chance…”

He shrugged and then he seemed to wither before her silence. She felt something in her chest break open watching it.

After a moment, he nodded.

“If you change your mind, you know where I live.”

He left sufficient credit chips on the table to cover their drinks and a generous tip, and then he smiled at her sadly and walked away.

Mara felt numb, but something in her was screaming. She looked up and saw the moon had moved away from its initial position. It was now higher in the sky.

She felt like she’d spent the last hour on an amusement park ride. The whole world had reversed on her again. Her stomach and head had switched places. She couldn’t figure out which way was up.

It hurt when she thought he didn’t care. It ached knowing now that he did. 

She had no idea what to say. The realization that what she’d felt for Luke had been far more nervous passion than fearful resentment slammed into her like a speeder. The idea that he wanted her was unbelievable - except he’d said so. He’d told her in terms impossible to misinterpret.  
She didn’t know what any of it meant. She never trusted the Force to have her best interests at heart. It could be kriffing with both of their minds.

She grabbed onto the table as the universe seemed to right itself again.

She trusted Luke. That was the certainty, possibly the only one. She believed every awkward word that had come out of his mouth. She just couldn’t put together words of her own yet. She’d never known how. 

Kriff, if she’d known how, they would have sorted this out years ago.

She gasped in a breath as that thought soaked in.

She couldn’t let him walk away! Not now!

“Wait.” she jumped to her feet and swung around hoping against hope…

Luke had spun around, his hand on the railing to the steps off the roof. His face was wide open and his smile had lost the sad edge it had had all evening.

Ignoring the sudden hush around them as her cry drew the attention of other diners, Mara crossed over to where he stood.

“I’ll come with you.”

His lips covered hers almost before she finished the sentence.


End file.
